CHAPTER IV

THE VILLAGE DAIRY

This chapter will be devoted to a description of the various kinds of dairy which are found at the Toda villages. An account will be given of the daily course of the dairy operations and of the ritual accompanying it. The description of special ceremonies which occur in connexion with the dairy will be reserved till future chapters, in which ceremonies of the same nature occurring in all grades of dairy can be considered together.

A village dairy is often situated at some little distance from the huts in which the people live, though sometimes it is in their immediate neighbourhood. When of the same form as the hut, it may not at once be distinguished from the latter, but it is usually enclosed by a higher wall which surrounds the building more closely, so that there is very little room between the two. The door seemed to me to be usually smaller than that of most of the huts, and it is always capable of being closed by a shutter on the inner side.

The dairy is usually divided into compartments completely separated from one another by a partition extending to the roof, one room being entered from another by a small door of the same kind as that by which the dairy itself is entered. The majority of dairies have two rooms, an inner room called ulkkursh and an outer room called pòrmunkursh. Many dairies, especially among the kind called wursuli, have only one room. At five Tarthar villages, viz., Nòdrs, Taradrkirsi, Keradr, Akirsikòdri, and Tim, there are dairies which have three rooms, the inner and outer rooms being separated by a third, called the nedrkursh. Each of the five villages at which these dairies are found is the funeral-place for males of the clan to which the village belongs, and the body of a dead man is placed in the outer room of the dairy at each place during the funeral ceremonies.

At Nòdrs and Tedshteiri (villages of the Nòdrs clan) it is said that there were at one time dairies each of which had seven rooms. The ruins of these, which were of the grade called kudrpali, are still to be seen.

Sometimes the same building serves for two dairies, especially at the less important villages of a clan. In these cases the building resembles that kind of hut which is called merkalars, one compartment of the hut opening at the side. At the villages at which I found dairies of this kind, the front part of the hut was a kudrpali and the part with the door at the side was a wursuli. In these cases each dairy has only one room.

In every dairy which has more than one room, the dairy vessels are kept in the inner room and the actual dairy operations are performed by the dairyman in this room. He only is allowed to go into the inner room, while other men may go into the outer room and, in those cases in which there are three rooms, into the middle room.

When a village dairy has two or more rooms, the outer room first entered from the outside is often used as a sleeping-place and in this case usually has two of the couches called tün, one on each side with a fireplace between them. That on the right-hand side as one enters is called the meitün (meiltün), or high (superior) bed, and that on the left-hand side is the kitün, or low (inferior) bed.

In the outer room is kept the kepun or kaipun (hand vessel), used to hold the water with which the dairyman washes his hands. The masth, or axe used for cutting firewood, and the tek or tekh, a basket used to bring rice or grain into the dairy, are also kept in this room.

The fireplace between the two sleeping-places is usually made of four stones and is called kudrvars. At the wursuli it is made of three stones and is called waskal.

The room of the dairy which contains the dairy vessels is divided into three parts: the patatmar, the ertatmar, and the kalkani.

The patatmar takes its name from the patat, an earthenware vessel into which the milk is poured from the milking vessel and in which it is churned. The vessels kept in this part of the inner room, which are known collectively as patatpur, are those which are actually used in the milking and churning.

The ertatmar takes its name from the ertat, a bamboo vessel used to carry buttermilk or butter out of the dairy. The ertat and the vessels kept with it, known collectively as the ertatpur, are those which receive the products of the churning or are used to convey these products out of the dairy. The lamp and the fire-sticks used for making fire by friction are also kept in this part of the dairy.

In the third part of the room, called the kalkani, are kept leaves, firewood, knives, and various sticks or wands. According to some accounts, the vessel called penpariv is also kept here.

When the dairy vessels are taken into a new dairy (see Chap. VI.), they are placed on ferns. I do not know whether they always rest on a bed of ferns or whether the ferns are only used when the vessels are first placed in the dairy.

The following is a list of the patatpur, the vessels and other objects which are kept in the part of the dairy called patatmar:

Patat or tat. Earthenware vessels into which the freshly drawn milk is poured and in which it is churned (Fig. 18, F). There are several of these vessels, one of which may be used to hold water.

Irkartpun or patatpun. The bamboo milking-vessel (Fig. 18, I).

Parskadrvenmu or parskadrpenmu, i.e., milk churn butter mu (Fig. 18, H). This is also sometimes called kazhmu, and is a small earthenware vessel in which is kept the butter (pen) which is added while churning. Except when the churning is in progress, it is used as a cover for the patat.

Adimu. An earthenware vessel (Fig. 18, K) into which some of the coagulated milk may be poured while churning. It may also be used to fetch water from the dairy stream.

Madth or parskartmadth. Churning-stick (Fig. 18, C).

Palkati. Bamboo rings for holding the churning-stick while churning.

Parskurs or ularwurthkurs. Stick or wand used chiefly for driving off calves while milking.

Tatkich. The cut-up ends of a churning-stick, used for cleaning the patat.

Tedshk. Rings made of rattan (Fig. 18, D), used in carrying the dairy vessels.

The garment of the dairyman, called tuni, is also kept here, and when there is a mani (bell), it is kept on the patatmar. The churning-stick is kept on a stand called agar.

The following are the objects kept on the ertatmar:

Majpariv. Vessel in which buttermilk is kept.

Penpariv. Vessel in which butter is kept. (According to some, this vessel is kept in the part called kalkani.)

Ertatpun. Vessel used to take buttermilk or butter out of the dairy (Fig. 18, E).

Majertkudriki. A small earthenware pot used like a ladle to take buttermilk out of the majpariv. It is also called ashkiok.

Pòlmachok. A bamboo vessel (Fig. 18, G) used to hold the buttermilk which is distributed to the people of the village.

Nirsi. The fire-sticks for making fire by friction.

Pelk. The lamp.

Tòratthadi. Cooking vessel which may be used for anything except barley.

Put, a stirring-stick.

When there is only one room, the masth, axe for cutting firewood, may be kept on the ertatmar; otherwise it is kept in the outer room.

The vessels and other objects of the patatmar are those which come directly into contact with the milk of the buffaloes or which may at any time come into contact with the buffaloes themselves.

The vessels and objects of the ertatmar, on the other hand, are those which contain the dairy products which are going out to ordinary people (perol), or which come into contact with food or other materials obtained from ordinary people.

The things of the patatmar are always kept apart from those of the ertatmar. When the buffaloes migrate from one grazing-place to another, the things of the patatmar are carried by one man and those of the ertatmar by another.

In connexion with many dairies there is a house in which calves are kept, the kwotars, and a place for very young calves, called kush or kudsh, which is sometimes partly formed by the spreading roots of a tree.

I am in some doubt as to whether the buffaloes belonging to a village dairy ever have a special tu in which they are enclosed for the night. In general, however, there is no doubt that the sacred buffaloes of the dairy occupy the same pen as the ordinary buffaloes. Similarly I am not clear whether the dairy always has its own irkarmus, or milking-place, or whether ordinary and sacred buffaloes are not often milked at the same spot, the dairyman recognising the buffaloes committed to his charge and milking them only.

Every dairy has its own place from which water is drawn the pali nipa. This may be a different stream from that used for household purposes, but is, perhaps, most commonly part of the same stream, the higher part being used for dairy purposes. When a village has more than one dairy, each dairy has its own place for drawing water, usually different parts of the same stream.

The foregoing account holds good of all kinds of village dairy. The different grades of village dairy present differences in the daily procedure, in the qualifications and rules of conduct of the dairyman, and in other respects. I will begin with the tarvali of the Tartharol.

THE TARVALI

This is the name applied to the lowest grade of Tarthar dairy and may mean “the ordinary dairy,” the first syllable being probably the same as in the word “Tarthar.”

The tarvali is always of the ordinary form and is never called poh. The dairyman, or tarvalikartmokh, is often a youth or man of the village to which the dairy belongs, but he may be taken from any other village of the clan or from other Tarthar villages, the choice in some cases being restricted to certain clans. The only Tarthar clan which is strictly limited to its own members in the choice of tarvalikartmokh is that of Melgars. In all cases this grade of dairyman must be one of the Tartharol; he is never taken from the other division of the Toda people.

When the dairyman is taken from another clan, he may receive certain wages, viz., two cloaks (putkuli) in the year and six rupees, together with the loan of a milking buffalo for the use of his family. I have no definite information whether anything is given to dairymen who are members of the clan or family to which the dairy belongs.

The dairyman is regarded by the Todas as a servant, especially when taken from another clan. I was often told that a man was working for another and was his servant, and always found that the so-called servant was palikartmokh at the dairy of the village at which the master lived. Correspondingly, there seemed to be no doubt that the dairyman was treated with very scant respect, except on ceremonial occasions and when actually performing the ritual of his office.

The tarvalikartmokh wears nothing but the kuvn, or perineal band, when he is in the dairy, and wears a loincloth called irkarthtadrp when milking. When away from his work or when looking after his buffaloes on the grazing-ground, he wears the ordinary cloak, or putkuli. He usually sleeps in the outer room of the dairy, but is allowed to sleep at any time in the dwelling-hut. When he goes there he may only touch the sleeping-place (idrtül) and the floor (kuter). If he touches any other part of the hut, he at once loses his office and becomes an ordinary person. There are no restrictions on the intercourse of the tarvalikartmokh with women.

When the tarvalikartmokh rises in the morning, he leaves the dairy, raising one or both hands to his face as in Fig. 10 and saying Sami or Swami. He often also says this word when getting up from the sleeping-place. He first lets the buffaloes out of the pen (tu) in which they had been put for the night and then goes into the dairy to churn. He does not light the lamp in the morning unless it is dark, nor does he pray. The milk poured into the patat overnight will have coagulated, so that it forms a solid mass called adrpars. The dairyman puts the churning-stick into the patat and churns for a little time till he has broken up the adrpars. [21] Then he pours off most of the semi-fluid milk into another vessel (also a patat), leaving about one kudi [22] in the churning-vessel. He adds to this some butter from a previous churning, which he takes from the parskadrvenmu, adds also some water, and churns the mixture till butter is formed. He pours out the buttermilk into the majpariv, keeping the butter in the patat, adds more coagulated milk and water, and churns again, transferring the buttermilk to its vessel when butter is formed. He continues in this way till all the milk has been churned, and he then transfers the butter which has been formed to the vessel called penpariv, also putting a small portion in the parskadrvenmu.

The palikartmokh then goes out to milk, with the irkarthpun and the wand called parskurs or ularwurthkurs. He puts into the milking-vessel some buttermilk, the buttermilk used for this purpose being called pep, and he also smears some butter on the edge of the vessel to put on the teats of the buffaloes. When he goes out, he salutes by raising the irkarthpun and parskurs to his forehead in the same manner as is shown in Fig. 27. When he has filled the milking-vessel, he goes into the dairy and empties the milk into the patat and returns to the buffaloes. This is repeated till all the buffaloes have been milked, after which the dairyman takes food and buttermilk, but with no prescribed ritual as in the case of more sacred dairies. He also gives out buttermilk to the people of the village. After the work of the morning is over, the palikartmokh may go out to look after the buffaloes, or may collect firewood, leaves, or other things necessary for his work. During the later hours of the morning the palikartmokh may often be seen lying down taking a rest before he begins the work of the afternoon, which is more ceremonial than that of the morning.

About three o’clock in the afternoon he goes to the dairy, bows down and touches the threshold with his forehead (pavnersatiti, Fig. 20), enters and touches a vessel on the patat side, and then a vessel on the ertat side. He then lights the fire and inspects the milk drawn in the morning. If it has not become solid, he puts it on the fire for a few minutes to hasten the coagulation. He lights the lamp and prays, using the prayer of the dairy (see Chap. X), and then churns as in the morning. When he has finished churning, he clears the churning-stick of the butter clinging to it, and after holding it to his forehead and uttering the sacred word “Oñ”, he puts it in the stand called agar. He then goes out to milk as in the morning, taking buttermilk in the milking-vessel. When the milking is over, he shuts up the buffaloes in the pen for the night, and as he does so, he repeats the prayer of the dairy, the prayer being exactly the same as that used when lighting the lamp. He then takes food and goes to sleep, often saying Swami as he lies down for the night.

The tarvali of the Melgars people is in some ways regarded as superior to the other tarvali of the Tartharol. The Melgars tarvalikartmokh may not go to the tarvali of another Tarthar clan, though the tarvalikartmokh of another clan may go to a Melgars tarvali. This was said to be due to the higher degree of sanctity of the Melgars dairy and office, but there do not appear to be any differences of ritual corresponding to this different degree of sanctity.

THE KUDRPALI

The special feature of the kudrpali is that it contains one or more of the bells called mani. This involves several additions to the ceremonial of the dairy, and these are accompanied by more stringent rules of conduct for the dairyman.

Whenever engaged in his work, the kudrpalikartmokh must be naked except for the kuvn. In the cold Nilgiri mornings it must often be a very unpleasant task to have to milk the buffaloes with no covering, and I was told that at some places, and especially at Nòdrs, the people gave up the maintenance of a kudrpali on account of the difficulty experienced in obtaining men to undertake the office of dairyman.

When the kudrpalikartmokh is taking his meals, he must hold his food in his hands till he has finished. He is not allowed to put it down on the ground, as may be done by the dairyman of the tarvali.

Soon after beginning to churn, the kudrpalikartmokh takes up some of the broken-up curd (adrpars) and puts it on the bell (mani) three times, saying “Oñ” each time, and milk from the vessel first brought into the dairy is also put on the bell in the same manner.

At the kudrpali of Kars, the dairyman puts the curd and milk on a board called pato. The bells of this dairy have been lost, and the dairyman puts the milk on the board on which the bells used to hang. The process of putting milk on the bells is properly called terzantirikiti, but the Todas often speak of the process as “feeding the bell.” At the kudrpali of Kuzhu, belonging to the Kars clan, milk is put in the same way on a gold bracelet.

When making butter, it will be remembered that the dairyman of the tarvali makes a certain amount, and then pours away the buttermilk, and repeats this till all the adrpars has been converted into butter and buttermilk. Whenever the kudrpalikartmokh pours away buttermilk, he takes a piece of the bark of the sacred tudr tree (Meliosma pungens and Wightii) and beats three times on the patat, saying “Oñ” each time. This ceremony is called pepeirthti, and is the exclusive privilege of the kudrpalikartmokh. If this ceremony should be omitted, the buttermilk may not be drunk by any one.

The kudrpalikartmokh is allowed to sleep in the ordinary hut, but only on special days—viz., Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday—and on these days he must, like the tarvalikartmokh, avoid touching anything in the hut except the sleeping-place and the floor on pain of losing his office. He is allowed intercourse with any Tarthar woman, but must have nothing to do with the women of his own division, the Teivaliol.

While in office, the kudrpalikartmokh is not allowed to visit the bazaar, [23] and if he does so he becomes an ordinary person at once. One afternoon when I was working with Parkurs (8), one of the elders of the Kars clan, Sakari (7), who had been kudrpalikartmokh at Kuzhu, came to announce that he had visited the bazaar at Ootacamund. He was therefore no longer palikartmokh, and he came to tell Parkurs that a successor must be appointed. It seemed to me in this case that Sakari had visited the bazaar because he was tired of office and wished to become free. I had a suspicion also that he wished to become acquainted with my proceedings, for he came straight to me from the bazaar and was one of my most regular attendants for some time after his deprivation. The kudrpalikartmokh is prohibited from entering a tarvali, though the tarvalikartmokh may enter a kudrpali.

The milk of buffaloes connected with a kudrpali is more sacred than that of buffaloes milked at a tarvali. Any one may drink milk from a tarvali, but the milk of the kudrpali may only be drunk by the palikartmokh. If any one else drinks the milk of the kudrpali it is believed that he will die. I could learn of no case in which a man had taken this milk, but Kòdrner (7) had seen a cat die on the day it had drunk milk of the martir, the buffaloes of the kudrpali of Kars. Kòdrner was somewhat of a sceptic in connexion with many of the beliefs of his people, but he was very much in earnest on this occasion, and when my interpreter said he should like to drink some of the milk, Kòdrner offered to give him one hundred rupees if he drank the milk of martir for four days and remained alive.

The buffaloes tended at the tarvali and kudrpali are of several named kinds. According to tradition, each clan at the original distribution of buffaloes by Teikirzi (see p. 186) was given a certain kind. To Kars were given the buffaloes called martir; to Nòdrs were given nashperthir; to Pan, pineipir; to Melgars, persasir; these buffaloes originally given being called in general nòdrodvaiir; lit. “buffaloes who rule.”

In various ways the buffaloes originally given to one clan have passed into the possession of other clans. This has happened when buffaloes have been purchased, but is chiefly due to the existence of several customs which involve gifts of buffaloes. The tradition also runs that soon after the buffaloes were originally given, the Nòdrs people built the kudrpali with seven rooms to which I have already referred and begged the Kars people for martir to milk at this dairy. Similarly the people of Kanòdrs borrowed martir from Kars to milk at their conical dairy, and similar transferences of buffaloes may have occurred between other clans. In these and possibly in other ways buffaloes have passed from one clan to another, and as the buffaloes have in many cases kept their original names, most clans now possess buffaloes of several kinds.

I was for a long time very doubtful about the relation of the kudrpali and tarvali to one another, and had very great difficulty in finding out which buffaloes belonged to each kind of dairy. Finally, it became quite clear that the same buffaloes might be milked either at a kudrpali or a tarvali, and that the possession of a mani was the chief point which determined whether a given dairy was a kudrpali or a tarvali.

The same kind of buffalo may be milked at one kind of dairy in one clan and at the other kind in another clan. The nashperthir of Nòdrs are milked at the tarvali of that place, but those of Kars are milked at the kudrpali together with the martir. Further, in at least one case, the same buffaloes might be milked in one village of a clan at a kudrpali and in another village at a tarvali. The Pan people now live chiefly at Naters and the chief villages of the clan in the Kundahs, Pan and Kuirsi, are deserted during the greater part of the year. When these villages are occupied the pineipir are milked at their kudrpali dairies, but when the people are at Naters the same buffaloes are milked at the tarvali. The mani is left at Pan, and I was told that if the bell were to be brought to Naters a kudrpali would have to be built for its reception and the pineipir would then be milked at this dairy.

At the present time the only clan which has a kudrpali in constant use is that of Kars. The Pan clan only uses its kudrpali during the few months that the villages in the Kundahs are occupied. The Nòdrs clan is said to have had a kudrpali at one time, but the fact that they had to borrow buffaloes for it from Kars points to the especial connexion of the kudrpali with the latter clan.

Although the Karsol and Panol are the only clans which have a kudrpali, the special feature of which is the possession of a mani, these are not the only clans which own these sacred bells. In other cases the mani belongs to the next higher grade of dairy, the wursuli, and the Kars clan itself also possesses mani kept at this grade of dairy. Indeed, although the Kars kudrpali is said to have bells as its special feature, these bells do not really exist, having been stolen some years ago. The fiction of their presence is, however, kept up, and, as we have seen, the place where they should hang is still ‘fed’ with curd and milk.

In one case, that of the Kars kudrpali, I worked out in detail the ownership and care of the buffaloes called martir. There were altogether forty-eight of these buffaloes kept at six places and tended by seven dairymen, who were chosen from the Karsol or from the people of Nòdrs, Pan, Taradr or Keradr.

The distribution at the time of my visit was as follows:—

Kutadri (7) possessed 8 buffaloes kept at Kars tended by Idjen of Taradr (22) Kutthurs (12) ,, 8 ,, ,, ,, ,, Tilipa of Kars (12) Parkurs (8) ,, 8 ,, ,, Isharadr ,, Kosners of Nòdrs (6) Pidrvan (9) ,, 6 ,, ,, Pakhalkudr ,, Tidjkudr of Nòdrs (6) Kuinervan (14) ,, 6 ,, ,, Peletkwur ,, Pons of Keradr (26) Potheners (10) ,, 6 ,, ,, Keshker ,, Palpa of Pan (16) Nudriki (8) ,, 3 ,, ,, Kuzhu ,, Mutkudr of Kars (15) Mongeithi (15) ,, 3 ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

It will be noticed that in only two of the dairies did the palikartmokh belong to the Karsol, and in each case he looked after the buffaloes of his own father, Mutkudr also tending the buffaloes of Nudriki. Idjen was the son-in-law of Kutadri, and Palpa had married a Kars woman, who was not, however, closely related to Potheners, to whom he was acting as dairyman. Kosners and Tidjkudr were given to me as examples of a practice in which a man of one clan works for one of another, [24] and they received the same wages as in the case of the tarvalikartmokh (see p. 62).

These facts show clearly that the kudrpalir are not regarded as the property of the whole clan, but belong to different families, and the same is true of the buffaloes milked at the tarvali. Each family possesses its own sacred buffaloes as well as its ordinary buffaloes or putiir, and in some cases the buffaloes of each family have their own dairyman, even when the milk of two herds is churned in the same dairy.

THE WURSULI

Most of the Tarthar clans possess herds of buffaloes called collectively wursulir, each herd being tended by a dairyman called wursol at a dairy called wursuli or wursuli pali. The buffaloes of different clans have special names. At Nòdrs, they are called mersgursir; at Kars and Taradr, püdrshtipir; at Pan, kudeipir; at Keradr, miniapir; and at Nidrsi and Kwòdrdoni, keitankursir. The people of Päm, Kanòdrs, and Melgars have no wursulir; Päm and Kanòdrs both had buffaloes of this kind at one time, but they have been allowed to die out. Melgars, on the other hand, never had wursulir, the tradition being that none of these buffaloes were assigned to the clan at the original partition by Teikirzi.

The wursulir are said to have been given to most clans at the original

## partition of buffaloes, but no reason could be given for the creation

of this special kind of buffalo. The Keradr clan are believed to have received their wursulir from Korateu (see Chap. IX), the buffaloes being descended from a sambhar calf given by this god.

A special feature of the wursuli is that the dairyman or wursol of this Tarthar dairy has to be taken either from the Teivaliol or from the Melgars clan of the Tartharol. The Melgars people could hold the office of wursol, but had no wursulir themselves. At the present time the majority of men who hold this office are drawn from the Teivaliol, only two belonging to Melgars, and it seemed that it was only when the supply ran short among the Teivaliol that the Tarthar people had recourse to members of their own division. The Melgarsol do not share fully the privileges of the Teivaliol in respect of this office, for though they may perform the ordinary work of the dairy, there are certain duties of the wursol, such as those at the funeral ceremonies, which may only be performed by a Teivali occupant of the office.

The wursol has to go through more complicated ordination ceremonies than the palikartmokh, and has a distinctly higher degree of sanctity so far as one can judge from the rules for his conduct. He may not be touched by any ordinary person, and in general the rules regulating his conduct are more stringent than those for the ordinary dairyman.

The wursol has two dresses; one, the grey garment called tuni, which is worn at his dairy work and kept in the dairy; the other, the ordinary putkuli, which he wears when not engaged at his special work.

The wursol does not sleep in his own dairy, but in one of a different kind, a village which has a wursuli always having at least one other dairy. At Kars he sleeps in the kudrpali, and at Nòdrs in the tarvali. He is allowed to sleep in the hut of a Tarthar village on two nights in the week—viz., Sunday and Wednesday—and on these occasions he may have intercourse with any Tarthar woman. Except on these occasions he loses his office even if touched by a woman. He is not allowed to have intercourse with any Teivali woman, even with his wife if he is married, on pain of becoming an ordinary person.

He may go to any Tarthar village, but to no Teivali village—i.e., if one of the Teivaliol, he is allowed to visit none of his own people.

When he goes to the dwelling-hut, care is taken to remove from the hut the objects shown in Fig. 11—viz., the murn or sieve, the wask or pounder, and the kip or broom. It seems as if these three objects are removed because they are used by women. The emblems of womanhood are not allowed to contaminate the house while the wursol is present, although, at the same time, he is not restricted from intercourse with the women themselves. On the mornings after he has slept in the hut he bathes from head to foot before going to the dairy, and prostrates himself at the threshold before he enters.

If the cloak of the wursol requires cleaning or mending, it may only be taken to the hut for these purposes on the same days as those on which the wursol may sleep there—viz., Sunday or Wednesday.

The food of the wursol is prepared for him by the palikartmokh of the dairy in which he sleeps. The wursol never prepares food either for himself or others, except on the occasion of the festival called irpalvusthi (see Chap. VIII).

Most wursuli have only one room, the exception being the poh at Nòdrs, and the wursuli of Nasmiòdr and Òdr. It is noteworthy that these, however, are three of the most ancient and important dairies of the Todas. The reason why the other wursuli have one room is probably the fact that the wursol is not allowed to sleep in the dairy, and consequently there is no necessity for an outer room. When these dairies have been rebuilt, or new dairies have been made, the Todas have probably not thought it worth while to keep two rooms except at the especially important and sacred places. I was also told, however, that each of the three places which have two rooms had been at one time a ti dairy, and, as we shall see later, dairies of this, the highest, grade always have two rooms.

Another indication of the special sanctity of these three dairies is that at them, and also at the wursuli at Kozhtudi, the wursol must never turn his back on the contents of the dairy—i.e., he must do all his work and go in and out of the dairy facing the place where the mani is kept. The Todas call this proceeding in which the back is never turned on the contents of the dairy “kabkaditi.”

The vessels of the wursuli are divided, like those of the ordinary dairy, into those of the patatmar and those of the ertatmar. The following sketch of the arrangement was made by Kòdrner, but I do not feel confident of its accuracy.

The lamp is of iron, bought in the bazaar: it is called tudrkpelk or tagarspelk, according as it is hung by a hook or on a chain. This distinction probably holds for other village dairies.

THE DAILY LIFE OF THE WURSOL

The dairy work of the wursol is carried out on the same general lines as that of the palikartmokh, but the order and method of the various operations are more strictly regulated. Before the wursol goes into the dairy in the morning he washes his hands with water from the vessel called kepun, [25] bows down at the threshold and enters the dairy; salutes the mani (kaimukhti), goes to the ertatmar and touches the majpariv; then to the patatmar and touches the patat. Then, after lighting the fire, he takes the mu off the patat, and, if the milk has coagulated, he begins to churn. After churning for a little while he puts some of the coagulated milk on the mani. After the churning is over, he milks, putting some of the first milk on the bell.

After the milking is finished, buttermilk is distributed to the women, and a mixture of milk and buttermilk is given to the men, who come to drink it standing outside the dairy. The wursol then drinks buttermilk and eats. When taking buttermilk he pours it from the vessel called ertatpun into the leaf [26] from which he drinks. When he goes to attend to the buffaloes, he leaves the tuni in the dairy and puts on his putkuli in a special way which is only adopted by the wursol and only by him when engaged in looking after the buffaloes. Placing one end of the cloak over the left shoulder, he brings the other end under the right arm, and, taking this end in his right hand, throws it round the back of his neck so that it rests on the left shoulder. The result of this adjustment is that the front part of his body is uncovered as shown in Fig. 23. I could not ascertain why the wursol should wear his cloak in this special way, nor why this method of wearing the garment should be peculiar to his office. [27]

In the afternoon the wursol again washes his hands, bows down to the threshold and enters the dairy, salutes the mani, touches the majpariv and patat as in the morning, and lights the fire. He then lights the lamp, and prays, using the prayer of the village. Then he churns and “feeds the bell,” but his procedure differs from that of the morning in that he distributes the buttermilk at this stage of the proceedings. When he milks he puts some of the first milk on the bell, and when he shuts up the buffaloes in their enclosure (tu) for the night, he recites the same prayer as when lighting the lamp. He then takes his food, eating it outside the dairy, puts his tuni on the patatmar, and goes to rest.

The procedure thus differs from that of the tarvali and kudrpali in that the dairy vessels are touched ceremonially at the beginning of both morning and evening operations. The wursuli resembles the other dairies, however, in that prayer is offered in the evening only. The differences are less pronounced in ritual than in the rules of conduct.

THE KUGVALI OF TARADR

The people of Taradr have a special institution which is in many ways intermediate between the dairies of the village and the institution to be described in the next chapter—the ti.

The buffaloes connected with this institution are known as the kugvalir. They are said to belong to the whole of the Tartharol, but this only seems to mean that they are so important that every Toda looks up to them and feels that they are in some measure his. It does not mean that every Toda has a voice in their management or share in their produce.

The people of Taradr are divided into six families (pòlm), and each family has charge of the kugvalir in turn for periods of three years, the head of the family having the chief direction. At the present time they are in charge of Siriar (20), having only recently passed to his family.

The head of the family in charge appoints the dairyman, who is called kugvalikartmokh. This dairyman must be a member of the Taradr clan, but need not necessarily be a member of the family in charge.

Each of the chief Taradr villages has a special dairy for the kugvalir. It is called the kugvali (kugpali) or chief dairy (kug = etud = chief), and it was said to be the chief of all the dairies. All these dairies have one room only, except that at Taradr itself, where there are two rooms. These dairies do not at present differ in form or general appearance from dairies of other kinds. The kugvali at Taradr is shown in Fig. 24, and it is the dairy on the right-hand side of Fig. 5.

The kugvalir have one feature peculiar to themselves. They are never recruited from any other herd. Even the buffaloes of the ti often have additions to their number, especially through the ceremony of irnörtiti (Chap. XIII), but in no circumstances are any additions from outside made to the kugvalir.

There is a legend that the original buffaloes of this herd were sent from Amnòdr [28] by the god Ön to the people of Taradr. A long time after they came to Taradr the herd was on the point of dying out, only one cow buffalo remaining, which was so old that it had lost its teeth. This sole survivor was pregnant, and when about to calve the delivery was much delayed, and it seemed that the buffalo would die before the calf was born. Only women were present and they cut open the belly of the buffalo and took out the calf, which was tended very carefully and lived, and the existing kugvalir are descended from this calf.

This story preserves a tradition of the practice of women attending to the buffaloes at the time of calving, which is said to have been at one time the regular practice.

The kugvalikartmokh sleeps in the kwotars or calf-house, except at Taradr, at which place he sleeps in the outer room of his dairy. He is allowed to sleep in the ordinary hut on certain nights in the week, and may only have intercourse with Tarthar women.

He wears the grey garment, or tuni, which he ties round his waist when churning and wears over his shoulders when milking.

The work of the dairy is carried out on the same general lines as that already described, but with certain distinguishing features.

All the work is done kabkaditi; the dairyman never turns his back to the contents of the dairy. In those villages in which he sleeps in the calf-house he goes naked (except for the kuvn) to the kugvali, washes his hands, prostrates himself at the threshold, enters, and puts on his tuni which is kept on the patatmar. He salutes the mani which he feeds with curd and milk as in other dairies. He also knocks on the patat three times, saying “Oñ” each time.

As in the other village dairies, he only prays and lights the lamp in the evening. When he gives out buttermilk, he must use the vessel called pòlmachok. He drinks buttermilk (peputi) in a distinctly more ceremonial manner than in the ordinary dairy, sitting on the seat (kwottün) outside the dairy, and pouring from the ertatpun into a leaf-cup made of two leaves of the kind called kakuders. He drinks three times only, raising the leaves to his forehead and saying “Oñ” each time.

In this more definite ceremonial when drinking buttermilk, we have a transition to the ritual of the ti, and this resemblance to the procedure of the ti is still more marked in the following features. In addition to the kugvalir, the kugvalikartmokh has certain ordinary buffaloes, putiir, to provide milk for his personal use, and these buffaloes are milked in a special vessel called kuvun (kupun). This vessel is also used to transfer butter and buttermilk from the patatmar to the ertatmar, i.e., buttermilk is not poured directly from the patatpun into the majpariv, but poured from the former into the kuvun and from this into the majpariv, and similarly the butter is transferred from patatpun to penpariv by means of the same vessel.

THE DAIRY OF KANÒDRS

Another dairy-temple which occupies an exceptional position is the poh at Kanòdrs. This is a dairy of the conical form, shown in Fig. 25, which differs from that of Nòdrs in being surrounded by two walls (katu), both of which are shown in the photograph.

According to one account the people of Kanòdrs borrowed martir from Kars to be milked at this dairy, but at the present time, when the dairy is occupied, the cattle milked are those called nashperthir.

The dairyman at this poh is called pohkartpol and must be a Kanòdrs man. During my visit, the dairy was not occupied and the office of pohkartpol was vacant. At the present time a dairyman is appointed about once a year and holds office for thirty or forty days only. So far as I could ascertain, the failure to occupy the dairy constantly is due to the very considerable hardships and restrictions which have to be endured by the holder of the office of dairyman, and the time is probably not far distant when this dairy, one of the most sacred among the Todas, will cease altogether to be used.

When a pohkartpol is in office he is allowed to have one companion, who is a perol, or ordinary person, i.e., he undergoes no special ordination ceremony. With the exception of the two men, no one is allowed to go near the building for any purpose. When I visited the place, my guide stayed a considerable distance away from and out of sight of the dairy while I went with my interpreter to inspect the building and its surroundings. The pohkartpol and his companion sleep in the kwotars, or calf-house, in which there is a bed (tün) for each. This building has no door and is a very flimsy structure, so that sleeping in it can differ very little from sleeping in the open air. There is a fireplace between the two beds, but its warmth can hardly be sufficient for any degree of comfort. Further, the pohkartpol may only wear the tuni, a very scanty garment as compared with the putkuli. The pohkartpol must be celibate while in office, and his companion, must also be celibate while at the dairy. The pohkartpol must take his food sitting on the outer wall which surrounds the dairy. He must not put his hand to his mouth, but must throw his food in; nor must he put the leaf used as a cup to his lips, but must pour into his mouth from above.

Several of these rules and restrictions are even more severe than those for the palol, to be considered in the next chapter. The reason given for the strictness of ritual is that the god Kwoto or Meilitars “had done so many wonderful things on that side” (see